Duterte’s War: ‘He was alive when they hammered the nails into his head’

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT: Bodies pile up in the Philippines as Duterte’s controversial “war on drugs” continues after the President tells citizens to deal with it by “opening more funeral parlours”. Video: Technology News/AFP

By Rappler in Manila

Business has never been busier for Filipino undertaker Alejandro Ormeneta but, after 5 months on the frontlines of the Philippines’ brutal drug war, he just wants the killings to stop.

Ormeneta and his colleagues at one funeral parlour in Manila say they are retrieving an average of 5 corpses a night, mostly from slums, and his grisly new routine has left him questioning the savage forces unleashed by President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on crime.

“This shouldn’t happen, they are people, not animals,” Ormeneta, 47, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) as he recalled taking out 3 nails hammered into the skull of an alleged drug trafficker.

“I think he was still alive when they hammered the nails. They tied him up first, put tape around his head, then hammered the nails in… that must have been so painful. I felt so sorry for him.”

On a typical night recently, Ormeneta walked down a narrow slum alleyway into a shanty where masked assailants had shot a man dead, the victim’s body still smelling of alcohol that he must have been drinking shortly before being killed.

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The victim’s sister wailed as police turned over his body on the concrete floor soaked in blood and revealed multiple gunshots to his head and body.

Police later told AFP that Danilo Bolante, 47, had sold shabu, the cheap crystal methamphetamine that Duterte says is ruining society and must be eradicated.

But his sister, Chona Balina, insisted he had stopped and had even reported himself to police as part of Duterte’s campaign to pressure drug traffickers and users into surrendering, known as Tokhang.

“Why launch Tokhang if that’s what they are going to do with people who are already changing,” Balina said.

The deaths look certain to continue with Duterte saying in September he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts and repeatedly vowing no let-up until the illegal drug trade has been eliminated.

While there are vocal critics of the drug war at home and abroad, surveys show an overwhelming majority of Filipinos support Duterte’s crusade.

Too poor for funeral
Still, funeral parlors, while busy, are not necessarily making lots of money, with relatives of many victims often too poor to be able to pay for a funeral.

The Philippines “war on drugs”: Veronica Memorial Chapel Funeral director Rico Teodocio (second from left) talking to a relative of an alleged drug dealer who was killed by unidentified men about the prices of various coffins in Manila. Image: Noel Celis/AFP/Rappler

“I don’t know how we can afford this because I have no job,” Balina said after agreeing to a funeral package worth 62,000 pesos (US$1250) with Veronica Memorial Chapels for services that include embalming, a casket and the wake.

However, Teodocio said he often gave discounts, especially for families of alleged drug users, some of whom paid in coins or raised money from gambling at wakes. He said some also begged cemeteries for free caskets.

“I don’t know if pathetic is the right term to use but you really pity them. We suffer too because we give our lowest price,” he said.

Veronica and other funeral parlours AFP visited also reported that bodies were frequently left unclaimed because relatives of the victims did not know about the death, were afraid of being linked to drugs or were simply too poor.

In these situations, the bodies are kept for two to three months then buried in public cemeteries, at the expense of funeral homes.

“It’s sad. They die without anyone coming for them,” Ormeneta said, pointing to black corpses at the back of the morgue.